Cultural Studies Review

Vol 17, No 1 (2011)

The Death Scene: Perspectives on Mortality

co-edited by Bruce Buchan, David Ellison and Margaret Gibson

This issue focuses on the interdisciplinary exploration and analysis of the scene of death, defined both in its privileged sense as the location of the end of life (with its associations of reflection, palliation, and confession) and in broader terms as a space of ethical contest (where ideas of the good death, or even the definition of death itself is open to debate). The varied articles explore how cultures frame the meaning and interpretation of human mortality in terms of representation, memorialisation, and the spacial and temporal location of moments of death.